Patna municipality sets aside big chunk for infrastructure development in budget

The civic body has proposed expenditure of ₹204 crore for controlling air pollution by allocating ₹102 crores for setting up composting and recycling plants, road pavement, footpath and green buffering while ₹14.4 crore will be spent on sweeping machines.

The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday passed a budget of ₹1499.85 crore for the financial year 2021-22 focused on infrastructure development including recycling plants for controlling air pollution, sweeping machines etc. The budget has also set aside over ₹100 crores to address waterlogging and work on roads and drains, according to the budget document.

PMC will spend ₹215 crore on water supply, ₹10 crore on Jal Jeevan Haryali, ₹10 crore for addressing waterlogging, ₹110 crore on roads and drains. (PTI File Photo)

The budget, tabled by mayor Sita Sahu, envisages an estimated income of ₹1359.23 crore and an estimated expenditure of ₹1499.85 crore. As per the budget, the maximum expenditure will be on infrastructure development, for which ₹780 crore has been allocated.

“We have two projects namely material recovery facility and bio methanation plant in pipeline for dry waste management and green fuel generation respectively. Our on-going projects like intelligent solid waste management, slum beautification and clean Patna are likely to yield positive results this year,” said municipal commissioner Himanshu Sharma.

The civic body has proposed expenditure of ₹204 crore for controlling air pollution by allocating ₹102 crores for setting up composting and recycling plants, road pavement, footpath and green buffering while ₹14.4 crore will be spent on sweeping machines.

PMC has also decided to spend ₹215 crore on water supply, ₹10 crore on Jal Jeevan Haryali, ₹10 crore for addressing waterlogging, ₹110 crore on roads and drains.

Major revenue sources of the PMC, as mentioned in the budget, is municipal fund ( ₹ 233.64 crore), grants ( ₹1,127.45 crore) and loans ( ₹ 8.14 crore).

In a major decision, the PMC has given financial powers to every ward councillor to sanction funds up to ₹1 crore for developmental activities.

The civic body has set the target of revenue collection up to ₹233.64 crore in 2021-22, including ₹105.30 crore from tax, ₹60 crore from stamp duty and the remaining from registration, parking and advertisements.

“Despite Covid-19 outbreak, our team continued rendering services and development work, including sanitation, road, drainage, water supply, toilet facility. During Chhath festival, doorstep delivery of holy water was ensured to curb the spread of virus. I hope to achieve our set target this year,” Sahu said. Senior PMC officials and all 75 ward councillors were present at the meeting.